CH. IV] BIRDS AND REPTILES OF NEW ZEALAND. 201 



Dinornithidse. It is not only these archaic forms of birds 

 which are peculiar to New Zealand. Nor are they the 

 only flightless birds that inhabit this country. The 

 parrot, Stringops, an undoubtedly ancient form of parrot, 

 is a very characteristic inhabitant ; so too are the rails, 

 Ocydromus and Notornis ; all these birds, though with 

 wings better developed than those of the Apteryx, or 

 Dinornis, are practically without the power of flight. 

 The " Parson-bird," Prosthemadera, is another peculiar 

 form. Mr W. A. Forbes has described 1 as peculiar 

 Mesomyodian genera of Passerine birds, the genera Xeni- 

 cus and Acanthisitta. He regards them as worthy of 

 inclusion in a separate family, to which the name Xeni- 

 cidce is applied ; the only other family of Mesomyodian 

 Passeres that enters the Australian region is that of the 

 Pittidas. The Xenicicbe are also allied to the Tyrannidie 

 and to the Cotingidas of the New World. Another re- 

 markable Passerine of New Zealand is Heteralocha, which, 

 like the equally restricted Callceas and Creadion, is 

 referable to the family Sturnidas. Among reptiles the 

 isolated Hatteria is the most remarkable ; the Amphibia 

 are represented by a single frog, Liopelma hochstetteri 

 allied to European forms belonging in fact to the Palae- 

 arctic family Discoglossidaa. It is curious that there are 

 no scorpions in New Zealand 2 , since that family exists in 

 Australia. The earthworms of this part of the world are 

 mainly Acanthodrilida3, including three genera confined to 



1 P. z. s. 1882. 



2 Pocock. On the Geographical Distribution of Scorpions. Natural 

 Science, 1894. 



